National Universities Where Most Accepted Students Enroll

The average prospective college student is applying to more schools than in previous years, according to the National Association of College Admission Counseling (NACAC).

"The number of applications submitted to colleges rose dramatically over the past decade, fueled by a record increase in applications submitted per-student," NACAC reported in a press release for its "State of College Admission: 2012" report.

But even if a student is accepted to more colleges, he or she can still only choose one. Colleges report the rates that their accepted first year students choose to attend--known as yield--to U.S. News in annual surveys. Yield is an important indicator of what students think about their college choice. A high yield means that students greatly value being admitted to a school, while a low yield may mean that the school was considered a "safety" and may not have been those students' first choice.

In fall 2011, Brigham Young University--Provo in Utah reported the highest yield rate, 79.7 percent, of any National University--schools that offer a full range of undergraduate majors, as well as master's and doctoral degrees, and tend to emphasize research. Harvard University, a No. 1-ranked school in the U.S. News Best National Universities rankings, reported the second-highest yield rate: 75.9 percent.

On average, the 266 National Universities that reported yield rates to U.S. News had close to 36 percent of accepted students ultimately enroll. That's significantly higher than the average among National Liberal Arts Colleges that year, which narrowly missed 30 percent.

The school-reported statistics below may have been impacted by any early decision or early action options available, which typically mandate that accepted students attend and can lead to higher yield rates. Below is every fall 2011 yield rate reported by a ranked National University to U.S. News.